Migrant crisis

Up
to 700 migrants are feared drowned in a series of shipwrecks off the
coast of Libya in the last few days, the UN refugee agency says.

The boats sank south of Italy on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as the migrants tried to reach Europe in unseaworthy vessels.
Spring weather has led to a surge of people attempting the perilous crossing from Africa to Europe.
It is now a key migration route since a deal curbed numbers sailing to Greece.

Carlotta Sami, spokeswoman for UNHCR, gave details of the shipwrecks:

About 550 other migrants are missing
from a boat which overturned on Thursday morning after leaving the
Libyan port of Sabratha on Wednesday. Survivors said the boat had no
engine and was being towed by a second smuggling vessel.

In a third shipwreck on Friday, 135
people were rescued, 45 bodies pulled from the water and an unspecified
number of others are missing.

Meanwhile, the MSF Sea group suggested the death toll from the last week could be as high as 900.
Survivors are being taken to the Italian ports of Taranto and Pozzallo.

Media captionItalian Navy captain Francesco Iavazzo talks about the incident on WednesdayMeanwhile, the Italian authorities have said the rescue of
more than 600 migrants off Libya on Saturday by a flotilla of EU ships
took the weekly total to at least 13,000. Weekly boat rescues reach 13,000
The rescues were the latest by a multinational patrol of ships operating in the Mediterranean.
Carlotta
Sami told the BBC: "[One of the most worrying things] is that all these
ships have left together in just the last few days.. it has put
rescuers under severe pressure."

Image copyrightAPImage caption
The Pope met children at the Vatican on Saturday,
telling them that migrants "aren't a danger, but are in danger"